US20070169300A1

US20070169300A1 - Cleaning utensil

Info

Publication number: US20070169300A1
Application number: US11/335,645
Authority: US
Inventors: Kuo-Ying Kan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-01-20
Filing date: 2006-01-20
Publication date: 2007-07-26

Abstract

Cleaning utensil is a cleaning tool which can be used for both dry and wet applications with sweeping and mopping. The cleaning utensil includes a rod, a tail end of which is provided with a pair of clamping members, with one clamping member being fixed at an upper edge of tail end of rod, and the other clamping member being transfixed into a hollow foaming material. Two ends of clamping members are fixed with a fixing device, such that the foaming material can be fixed between the two clamping members, thereby increasing a contact area with a floor through the foaming material, so as to achieve an efficient cleaning effect. In addition, as the foaming material is provide with a water-absorption feature, it can be applied to dry and wet cleaning, thereby enabling the cleaning utensil to be used for both the dry and wet applications with sweeping and mopping.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning utensil and more particularly to a cleaning utensil which can be used for both dry application with sweeping and wet application with mopping.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that indispensable cleaning appliances used in an ordinary family include a broom and a mop, wherein the broom is used to sweep off garbage and dusts on a floor and the mop is used to clean dirt on the floor.
However, during a process of cleaning the floor, a user should first use a broom to clean up the floor, and then damp the mop to clean the dirt on the floor, which is rather inconvenient in usage and also requires a purchase of one broom and one mop; hence bringing an extreme inconvenience to the user.
Accordingly, there was a vendor who has assembled the two tools together several years ago, forming a multi-function cleaning mop having both a function of sweeping and a function of mopping. For example, in Taiwan Utility Patent 035427, the invention includes primarily a handle bar, a top of which is installed with a mop fixing seat capable of loading and unloading a unit of cleaning tool of various purposes, and which is sheathed into a moveable handle sleeve having a supporting seat for supporting; a pressing rod; a stop piece to fix a tail end of moveable push rod; and a pair of squeezing cylinders which are separately located on a top end of the pressing rod and the moveable push rod, and are tightly fastened between each other with springs, thereby assembling into a moveable drainage device by squeezing.
However, in this method, the unit of cleaning tool should be formed in advance and then installed on the fixing seat, in order to be squeezed through the squeezing cylinders, so as to enable the unit of cleaning tool to achieve an effect of drainage by squeezing. This method has a complicated structure and a high cost. Furthermore, a contact area of the unit of cleaning tool with the floor is limited, which disables a user to efficiently achieve the effect of cleaning in usage.
Accordingly, another vendor has created an improved structure of cleaning rag which can be used for both dry and wet applications. Referring to Taiwan Utility Patent M242170, the invention includes primarily a wiping layer, a water-absorption layer, and a water-proof layer, wherein the wider and bottom wiping layer belongs to a non-woven fabric in a shape of mesh, the middle water-absorption layer, which is in a shape of long sheet, belongs to a water-affinity fiber cotton and is correspondingly stacked on a top center position of the wiping layer, and the water-proof layer, which is in a shape of long sheet, is covered on a top surface of the water-absorption layer. In addition, an adhesive band is glued between two side edges of the water-proof layer and a top surface of the wiping layer, a plurality of rows of folding lines is rolled between the water-proof layer and the water-absorption layer, and the three-layer cleaning rag in a shape of continuous and long sheet is cut into a pre-determined length.
Although the aforementioned product is provided with a convenience in replacing, and can effectively increase a contact area with the floor, a manufacturing of three-layer cleaning rag is rather troublesome, and an effect of water absorption is not perfect; hence, the water can be easily escaped while mopping the floor. Therefore, the rag should be continuously damped to effectively achieve an effect of mopping the floor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is to provide a cleaning utensil comprising a rod, a tail end of which is installed with a pair of clamping members with one clamping member being fixed at an upper edge of tail end of the rod, and the other clamping member being transfixed into a hollow foaming material. In the mean time, two ends of the clamping members are fixed with fixing devices, so as to fix the foaming material between the two clamping members, thereby increasing a contact area with the floor through the foaming material, and achieving an effective cleaning function. Furthermore, as the foaming material is provided with a water-absorption feature, it can be used for both dry and wet applications, thereby enabling the cleaning utensil to be applied to the dry and wet cleaning with mopping and sweeping.
The primary object of present invention is to provide a cleaning utensil which includes a hollow foaming material being installed at an exterior side of a clamping member, with an inner diameter of hollow space of foaming material greater than an outer diameter of the clamping member, therefore, a deformation will be created when the foaming material is touched with a floor, thereby enlarging a contact area with the floor, so as to achieve a more effective cleaning function. In addition, the present invention has a simple structure, thereby being able to effectively reduce a cost in manufacturing.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning utensil which includes a foaming material having a water-absorption feature. Therefore, when the foaming material is in a dry condition, it can be used as a broom; whereas after it absorbs water, it can be used as a mop.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning utensil wherein two clamping members are fixed with fixing devices, such that they can be quickly dismantled, thereby achieving an effect of replacing the foaming material.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning utensil wherein the foaming material can be fixed between the two clamping members in segments, so as to create an eccentric phenomenon for the foaming material during clamping, thereby facilitating cleaning on a non-smooth floor.
To enable a further understanding of the said objectives and the technological methods of the invention herein, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 shows another plan view of a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows a plan view of a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of a working status of the present invention.
FIG. 5 shows a plan view of a third embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a cleaning utensil is primarily composed of rod 10, a tail end of which is installed with a pair of clamping members, with a first clamping member 20 being fixed at an upper edge of tail end of rod 10, and a second clamping member 30 being transfixed into a hollow foaming material 40. An inner diameter of the foaming material 40 is greater than an outer diameter of the second clamping member 30, and both ends of the clamping members 20, 30 are fixed with fixing devices. In the present embodiment, the fixing device is a rotatable clip ring 50 which is installed on two ends of the first clamping member 20, such that the clip ring 50 can be rotated on the first clamping member 20 and in turn installed at a lower end of the second clamping member 30, thereby enabling the foaming material 40 to be effectively clipped between the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30.
Referring to FIG. 2, when the foaming material 40 is clipped between the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30, as the foaming material 40 is compressible, a deformation between the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30 is created for the foaming, such that the foaming material 40 is tightly clipped between the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30. In addition, as the inner diameter of foaming material 40 is greater than the outer diameter of second clamping member 30, a hollow part of the foaming material 40 will be compressed and deformed (which will be described hereafter) when the foaming material 40 is touched with a floor, so as to enlarge a contact area of the foaming material 40 with the floor, thereby more efficiently achieving an effect of cleaning the floor.
Moreover, as the foaming material 40 is provided with a water-absorption feature, when the foaming material 40 is in a dry condition, the entire cleaning utensil can be used as a broom; whereas after the foaming material 40 is damped, the entire cleaning utensil can be used as a mop. On the other hand, the present invention is composed of a rod 10, two clamping members 20, 30, a foaming material 40, and a fixing device; therefore, it has a very simple structure, thereby being able to effectively reduce a cost in manufacturing.
In the mean time, the foaming material 40 is clipped between the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30 through the fixing device which is essentially a rotatable clip ring 50 installed on the first clamping member 20. By clipping the clip ring 50 to the lower end of second clamping member 30, the foaming material 40 can be clipped and fixed, thereby providing a user to easily rotate the clip ring 50 to achieve an object of replacing the foaming material 40, which is very convenient in usage.
In addition, referring to FIG. 3, it shows another embodiment of present invention. In this embodiment, a ball screw 21 is located at a lower end of first clamping member 20, and a through-hole 31 is located on the second clamping member 30, at a position corresponding to that of the ball screw 21, such that the second clamping member 30 can be transfixed on the ball screw 21, and the second clamping member 30 can perform an axial movement along the ball screw 21, after using a lock member 60 to lock on the ball screw 21 below the second clamping member 30. Two foaming materials 40 are separately installed between the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30 at two sides of the ball screw 21, and then the clip rings 50 are clipped on side edges of the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30, thereby enabling two foaming materials 40 to be separately clipped between the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30. As the inner diameter of foaming material 40 is greater than the outer diameter of second clamping member 30, when the two foaming materials 40 are separately clipped between the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30, they can be clipped in an eccentric way, thereby forming a dislocated manner in clipping on the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30, which will facilitate cleaning on a non-smooth floor.
Referring to FIG. 4, when the foaming material 40 is clipped between the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30, as the inner diameter of foaming material 40 is greater than the outer diameter of second clamping member 30, the hollow part of foaming material will be compressed and deformed, upon forcing the foaming material 40 on a floor 70. Therefore, a contact area of the foaming material 40 with the floor 70 will be increased, and the greater the pressure is, the larger the contact area of foaming material 40 with the floor 70 is. On the contrary, the smaller the pressure is, the smaller the contact area with the floor 70 is. Accordingly, a user can be more efficiently performing cleaning the floor, and the contact area can be changed according to a size of pressure exerted.
Referring to FIG. 5, it shows a third embodiment of present invention. In this embodiment, lock holes 22, 32 are separately located at end edges of the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30, and a bolt 80 is locked on the lock holes 22, 32 of first clamping member 20 and second clamping member 30, so as to achieve a clipping effect for the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30, thereby enabling the foaming material 40 to be more firmly clipped between the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30.
It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described herein is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Claims

1. A cleaning assembly comprising a rod, a tail end of which is installed with a pair of clamping members, with one clamping member being fixed at the tail end of rod, the other clamping member being transfixed into a hollow foaming material, and both clamping members being fixed with fixing devices.

2. The cleaning assembly according to claim 1, wherein an inner diameter of the hollow foaming material is greater than an outer diameter of the clamping member.

3. The cleaning assembly according to claim 1, wherein the fixing device is essentially a rotatable clip ring located at two sides of clamping member fixed on the rod, such that the clip ring can be rotated on the clamping member and can be further installed at a lower end of clamping member transfixed in a center of foaming material.

4. The cleaning assembly according to claim 1, wherein a ball screw is located at a lower end of clamping member fixed at the tail end of rod, and a through-hole is located on the clamping member transfixed in a center of foaming material, at a position corresponding to that of ball screw, such that the clamping member can be transfixed on the ball screw, followed by using a lock member to lock onto the ball screw.

5. The cleaning assembly according to claim 1, wherein the fixing device further includes lock holes separately located at end edges of two clamping members, followed by using a bolt to lock into the lock holes of clamping members.

6. The cleaning assembly according to claim 1, wherein the foaming material is fixed between the two clamping members in segments.